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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26537950">The Phantump in the Weald</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ka_MewNari/pseuds/Ka_MewNari'>Ka_MewNari</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword &amp; Shield | Pokemon Sword &amp; Shield Versions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Brothers, Character Death, Galar - Freeform, Gen, Hop, How Do I Tag, Maybe some angst, PhantHop, Phantump!Hop, Pokemon, Pokemon Sword and Shield - Freeform, Probably won’t ever finish, based on another fic, don't get your hopes up, just for fun, leon - Freeform, no relationships - Freeform, phanthop au, phantump - Freeform, slumbering weald</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:35:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26537950</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ka_MewNari/pseuds/Ka_MewNari</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hop has been missing for almost 8 months, now. Many are worried about what might’ve happened to him, but none as much as his regret-filled brother, Leon. Searching for the teen trainer to no avail, a curious Pokémon comes along to bring Leon comfort during his worst times.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inspiration taken from “Would You Like To Nickname The Caught Phantump?” By BezNa and Roseltheteacup! Their fanfic is better, though, so make sure to check it out!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseltheteacup/gifts">roseltheteacup</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/gifts"></a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Golden eyes fluttered open feebly, greeted by the blurry vision of a mist-filled forest. The small and disoriented Pokémon’s head throbbed, as memories of who he was surfaced. The ghostly tree stump arose from the cold, moist ground, and hovered in a single spot in the air. He looked around, knowing not where he was, or how he ended up there. What stood out the most at first glance were the eyes of this Pokémon. Rather than red, the Phantump’s eyes were a bright, almost glowing, shade of yellow. </p>
<p>  The creature was lost, and felt an emptiness, a void that ached inside him. One face, though lingered in his mind, more than any other. A man with long, lavender hair, yellow eyes much like his own, and distinct, spiked facial hair. The wood-faced Pokémon wasn’t sure where to go, but knew for certain that he wouldn’t feel so lost once he found Lee.</p>
<p>•••••</p>
<p>  Leon glanced over at the sleeping Rotom phone on his nightstand. He shifted positions, turning to stretch over towards it. He tapped the screen carefully, as not to wake the Pokémon inside the phone, and the screen lit up briefly. 2:37am. He sighed and plopped back onto the bed. Leon glanced up at the wall, decorated with as many caps as he could possibly find along his travels. He bought them as keepsakes to remember each step of his journey, and kept them in his room back at his family’s house. </p>
<p>  He didn’t come here very often, which was something he had come to regret, now that it was too late. The house was a lot quieter than he remembered, and there was a good reason for that. It was the reason he couldn’t sleep, the reason that stood out and pushed deep into his skin and heart, like a clingy Pincurchin. Thinking of Pincurchin only made him sadder. His heart throbbed, and he grimaced at the Cufant in the room he couldn’t go without noticing so often. </p>
<p>  Leon turned over, pulling the blanket tighter to his shoulder and bringing his knees to his chest. His heart beat fast, as he pictured the smiling face of his little brother. It had been 7 months and 28 days since anyone had seen Hop. 7 months and 28 days since the tournament that crowned a new champion of the same age as his younger brother. It hurt Leon to think about how little care he showed towards Hop, who looked up to him so much. He should’ve been a better brother. </p>
<p>  Hop had always wanted nothing in life more than to be like Leon. Perhaps his hopes of becoming the Champion of Galar were too high, which led to the greatest downfall of all. Devastated didn’t cover how Hop must’ve felt after his best friend and rival took his dream carelessly, claiming his idolized title he dreamed about, throwing Hop away afterwards. Leon didn’t blame them, though. Not as much as they blamed themself, at least. It wasn’t their fault Hop had such big ideas for the future that he wasn’t able to fulfill. Or that only one person could be champion. </p>
<p>  Hop wasn’t the type of person to leave without notice. At first, everyone thought he must’ve just went off exploring, perhaps gotten lost. No one wanted to think of what might’ve actually happened. No one wanted to speak the harsh possibilities of truth, as if the thought being more than a lingering idea could be true by saying it aloud. When Leon found he had left all of his Pokémon at home, even his trusted partner Dubwool, things took a turn for the worse and many went off looking for the boy. Despite Leon’s infamous sense of direction, he searched longer for his brother than anyone else did, to no avail. </p>
<p>  Leon closed his eyes, a storm of thoughts still swirling in his mind. The restless night turned into a cold morning, fresh dew on Postwick’s grassy fields below a yellow sky. Leon still lay there, staring at the ceiling. Should he get up? He wasn’t sure if it would mean anything. The Rose Tower was still waiting for him to claim-it could wait longer- and the champion was a child. </p>
<p>  He sighed. ‘Face it, Hop is gone,’ he thought to himself. Would finding him really help if all that was left was a husk, a soulless skin? That certainly wouldn’t help his conscience. It would give a confirmation of what everyone suspected, but was that really what Leon wanted? He wouldn’t have to look, or worry anymore, but it would shatter any faint hope still left of Hop being alive and well. </p>
<p>  Was it better to do nothing, hanging on to the shred of an idea, a surely false hope that Hop was okay? Did that make Leon feel better? No. He felt like a sitting Farfetch’d, at least he could try to go on with his life if he found Hop, either way. Hard as it was, Leon pulled the covers back and eased himself out of the bed. </p>
<p>  He stretched, stood, and made to go brush his hair and teeth. He pulled on jeans and a hoodie with a Charizard flame design, placing his signature cap on the back of his head so that the crown design stood up. After clipping pokéballs to his belt and packing a backpack of travel essentials, he took one sad glance towards the bedroom down the hall and walked downstairs. He made toast to eat on the way, reminding himself he packed various curry ingredients for if he got hungry later on. </p>
<p>Who knows? Maybe today’s search would be different.</p>
<p>  That’s what he told himself every morning, at least.</p>
<p>•••</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just a heads up and apology, this will have short chapters and infrequent updates. It’s just a hobby that I want to try to put more time into, but I haven’t really written more than a chapter in years. Sorry if there’s anyone who actually cares to read this and is left with unsatisfying updates. Thanks for understanding.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>•••</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There was no denying it. Leon was completely, utterly, stupidly lost. He had headed to the Slumbering Weald for today’s tiresome search. Hop had always been drawn to the deep, dark forest, but obeyed for the most part when told not to go inside. It wasn’t until he first started his journey that he went in, then visited the woods frequently near the end of his travels. It would make sense, after meeting legendary Pokémon there and all, that he would walk there when he wanted to be alone. </p>
<p>Leon eventually stopped and tossed a Pokéball from his belt, admitting his defeat in directions. Once the bright light from the sphere faded, a small Pokémon hovered near the ground in front of him. The Pokémon gave what one might describe as an almost teasing look, a smirk that seemed to say ‘I told you so’.</p>
<p>  “Yes, I got lost. Again. Yes, this is what happened last time I kept you in the Pokéball when I was here,” Leon huffed, ashamed to admit a tiny Phantump was better with directions than the former champion of Galar. “Can you help me search in new spots?” </p>
<p>  The large, bright eyes of this more recent addition to his team scanned the area for a moment, then nodded to Leon and led him forwards. The Phantump knew the forest much better than he did, and seemed particularly attached to him when they met on one of his Hop searches months prior. </p>
<p>  Leon had already looked in here before, but it was hard to tell which ground had been covered and unseen. Every tree looked the same and a dense fog hindered your vision a foot away from your face. Leon was alone with his thoughts there, it felt, the only sounds being snapped twigs, native Pokémon cries, and his own footsteps. Phantump would murmur a cry every once in a while to grab his attention before showing him a separate path. Leon couldn’t walk a straight line from Postwick to Wedgehurst without having to ask for directions, so this foggy tangle was a completely different level for him. He would have lost all sense of direction, if he had any to begin with, if Phantump hadn’t been brought along. </p>
<p>  His Rotom-phone had run out of battery life, causing the Pokémon inside to take a nap in Leon’s bag, as he wandered through without any sense of time. Had Leon been traveling for minutes, hours, or days? It was hard to decipher, all he knew was that it felt like forever. He just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Even that didn’t go as planned, as he stumbled over a tree root. After catching himself on a tree, he took a deep breath and stood up straight, looking at the clearing he stood in now. Phantump looked up at him with sad eyes, then flew to Leon’s bag. Urging the man to take the bag off, he eventually complied and sat the sack on the ground. Phantump tugged at the zipper, pulling out a collapsible curry pot and setting it up. </p>
<p>  Leon watched as the tiny ghost-Pokémon cooked a pack of food and several berries in the pot. He seemed to struggle a bit with the fanning and stirring, but eventually finished the meal. Leon sat down on a fallen tree as Phantump handed him a bowl and let the trainer spoon out steaming curry. Phantump looked up at Leon as he blew on the spoon and took a bite. It was delicious, as usual. Leon wasn’t a great cook, one of the flaws the media hardly talked of. </p>
<p>  Phantump cooked for Leon often, ever since the day he led him out of the Weald and followed him home. While the purple-haired man had heard of notable Pokémon cooks, such as ape class Pokémon from both Unova and Alola, he didn’t know that Phantumps were talented in the subject. Only as Leon finished his dish did Phantump take his large yellow eyes off of him and pour his own small bowl. The little forest dweller ate slowly, giving Leon a chance to rest. Only now did the ex-champion realize how tired and hungry he was. They stayed that way, silently, for at least 20 minutes, before cleaning up. </p>
<p>  “C’mon, Phantump. Let’s keep going,” said Leon as he stood and stretched. </p>
<p>  Phantump stared into his all-too similar eyes, seeming to be thinking something over, before finally shaking his head. After giving a gentle tug at Leon’s sleeve, the curious little Pokémon turned in the opposite direction. Beckoning to follow and giving a soft “Tump...”, the human realizes what he was trying to tell him. </p>
<p>  “No, no, I’m good. I can keep going. We don’t need to go back home yet.” Phantump gave a doubtful look, “Really! I’m fine.”</p>
<p>  The Phantump slowly started to float back in the direction from which they had came from, soon followed by his trainer. </p>
<p>  It was a long walk back to Postwick. </p>
<p>  Leon slept well that night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593872/chapters/51487468</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the phenomenal fanfiction that inspired me to attempt my own spin on the idea. Funnily enough, I had already been thinking about the Phantump Hop idea for a while before finding it was actually a pretty widespread au. So, yeah, go check the original from Shamza and Rosel! It’s much better writing than I could do. Comment what you think, and if you want another chapter where it might get more into the story. I think I’m finished with Chapter 2, but I’m gonna wait a bit to possibly work on Chapter 3 before publishing it (If I ever do get to a third chapter, that is...). Anyways, thanks for reading, and have a great day!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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